Fate of Cephiro
by amaya
Summary: Takes place in an alternate universe where, instead of season two, Emeraude and Zagoto are reborn on earth... please note, this is a relatively old fic, and the writing in itself is pretty bad, but it's got an interesting enough plot, so...


Author's Notes- This series takes place after season one.  

Disclaimer- Magic Knight Rayearth is the property of Clamp/the animation companies.  I have no rights to the series, characters, ect.  

**The Fate of Cephiro**

                        I look at Zagoto.  Tears glimmer in his deep dark eyes, just as they do in my blue ones.  Why must it end like this?  I look at his face, he is obviously thinking the same thing.  It's too painful to look straight into his eyes.

_            He's not looking at me either.  I think he blames himself, even though this is all my fault.  I think in a way, maybe it was both of us._

_            Every story has a beginning; maybe I should start there, instead of here…_

            After Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu; three Magic Knights killed Zagoto and myself, we were reborn in America.  I was called Emily.  I had a fairly normal life and was often complimented on being helpful and kind.  Zagoto was named Zachary.  We only lived about 10 miles apart, although we went to different schools.  It was later obvious that we were fated to meet the day we did.

_            I was eight and Zachary was ten.  I was riding to the grocery store with my mother when a car came out of nowhere.  My mother pushed down on the brake and tried to steer away, but it was useless.  I closed my eyes and screamed as our van hit the other car head on.  I was thrown forward, but caught by my seatbelt as the car spun around and landed in a ditch._

            I was crying, tears dripping down my face and landing on my mother.  I looked down and began to cry harder.  My mom was lying in a pool of blood.  I looked away from her, desperately trying to claw my seatbelt off as I balanced on the armrest.  She needed medical help.

            The paramedics came, it was all a blur.  They helped me out, holding open the car door and pulling me up.  I was strapped to a hard red plastic board and put into an ambulance.  Our car was apparently much worse than the other one.

            I blacked out in the ambulance.  When I woke up a few hours later, two boys were standing next to my bed.  The taller one looked like he was about fifteen and the smaller one looked about ten.  They both wore expressions on their faces that looked as if they had done something awful.  They were bruised and cut up, and the older one had a large bandage across his face.  I didn't recognize either one from anywhere.  

            "Who… Who are you?" I asked, looking around confused.  "Where am I?"

            The older boy looked down at me sympathetically.  The younger one turned away from me; his dark eyes gazing across the room.  Neither one said a thing.  I could tell by the guilty looks in their eyes that they had done something, something terrible.

            A doctor walked into the room and started questioning me on how I felt and what hurt.

            I looked down at the red board.  Suddenly I remembered the car accident.  I remembered the way my mom had been lying there.  "Is my mom… Will my mom be ok?" I asked anxiously.

            The doctor smiled at me.  "I don't know who you mean, little girl.  I'm sure you'll see your mommy soon though."

            I looked at his face, but I couldn't tell if he meant what he was saying.

            The doctor unstrapped me from the board.  "It looks like your neck is fine, just a safety precaution.  Actually, I think you're fine, but rest here for a little while anyways," he said as he left the room mumbling something about a lack of doctors.

            I looked back over at the two boys.  _What did they know?  What could they tell me?_

_            "My name is Michael, and this is my younger brother Zachary," said the bigger one.  "Zachary doesn't talk much."_

            Zachary looked down again, not saying a word.  He silently gazed at the floor as if the hard white tiles held the meaning to life.

            "I'm Emily," I said.  "What are you guys doing here anyways, I don't know you, do I?"

            "Well… um…" stammered Michael, a more serious look on his face.  "We were… we were…"

            "We were the two people in the other car.  The one that hit yours," said Zachary quietly, still looking at the floor.  

            "Then do you know?   Where… How is my mother?"

            "Not exactly," said Michael truthfully.

            A middle-aged woman about 40 years old entered the room.   She had red hair, light brown eyes and looked a lot like Michael.  "Here you are," she said to the two boys.   "I was so worried about you two."  She looked at Michael's bandage.  "But look at you, all those cuts and bruises." 

            "Mom, we're fine," stated Michael.

            The lady looked down at me.  "Who is she?"

            Michael led her away and whispered to her for a few minutes while Zachary stood at my bed, still staring off into space.

            Michael and his mom reentered my room with the same doctor as before.  The doctor told me that he needed me to help him fill out some forms.  I had to tell him my name and my mother's name, plus about all our relatives.  Since my mom was my last living relative, I didn't have much to tell him there.  Michael and Zachary's mom looked at me with pity when I said this.

            I realized something was up.  They all knew something; something I didn't.  "What happened to my mom?" I asked.  "I know something did!"

            The four looked at each other.  No one said a word.  The room was silent; dead silent.

            "What is it!?" I asked frantically.  "What happened to her!?"

            "Your mother… she… she was killed in the accident…" stammered the doctor.

            I was speechless, motionless.  Why had this happened?  I glared at them all with total contempt; holding back my tears.  It was their fault.  Michael and his brother's for hitting our car.  Their mom's for letting them leave the house.  The doctor's for not saving her.  I hated Michael most of all; he had been driving.

            In a few minutes I recovered from my shock, wiped away my eyes and stood up.  "I hate you all!" I shouted.  "It's all your fault!" I screamed, running down the hall.  I bumped into a nurse carrying an armful of stuff on the way out of the hospital.  I didn't even stop to help her pick up whatever it was she had scattered all over the floor.

            I wanted to run to my house, but that was impossible because I didn't even know where I was, let alone how to find my house from there.  I ran and ran.  Finally I came to a park.  I sat down on a wooden bench.

            Tears came to my eyes.  My mom had loved nature.  She had told me once that she was planning on naming me "Violet," after her favorite flower when an incredibly short guy with purple hair came up to her and whispered "Emeraude… Name her Emeraude."  Of course my mom decided to change it a bit, and instead of naming me "Violet", she named me Emily.

            I don't know how long I sat there.  I guess I eventually fell asleep.  When I woke up, I was lying on a strange bed in an unfamiliar room.  A woman was looking at me.

            I blinked and looked at the woman.  She looked familiar.  Then I knew.  She was the mother of the two boys.  The ones who had crashed into our car.

            She smiled softly at me and gave me some tomato soup.  "While you slept, we sorted through your records," she said.  "It turns out that you really don't have any living relatives, but don't worry.  The social worker will place you in a good home, I'm sure of it."  She handed me a tv remote, told me to yell if I needed anything, and left the room.

            _God! _I thought _What's with her? She's treating me like I'm sick or something.  _I coughed a few times and almost fell back to sleep when I heard a soft quiet knock at the door.

            Zachary walked in with a nervous expression on his face.  "I want to apologize," he said quietly.  "It was all my fault."

            "You don't have to apologize," I said to him.  "You just happened to be in the car.  It was no one's fault."

            "Not true," said Zachary.  "I knew that he had just gotten his drivers license.  I knew he's on drugs, but I demanded he drive me to my soccer game anyway." Tears filled his dark eyes as he continued.  "I knew it was dangerous to let him drive this soon after a dose, but I let him anyway.  In a way, I killed your mother."

            "Please don't cry," I said to him.  "You could never have known… It wasn't your fault!"

            "No, it was my fault," Zachary replied as he walked out of the room and shut the door.  I heard footsteps in the hall and then the sound of another door shutting.

            A few days later was my mother's funeral.  Afterwards I was whisked away to a courtroom or something similar.  A tall lady with dark brown eyes and hair entered the room and started to talk with Zachary and Michael's mother.  Apparently, Zachary had been adopted.  I didn't listen very closely.

            About an hour later, the judge turned toward me.  "So how about it?" she asked me.  "Since you have no living relatives, how would you like to live with Mrs. Meyers?"

            I hadn't really been listening so I didn't know who they meant, but I did need someplace to go, so I said "Sure, I guess."

            Michael's mom smiled and wrapped me in a big hug.  "Welcome to the family sweetie!" she exclaimed.

            I shrugged her off.  Anything was better than the streets.

            I lived with the Meyers for five years.  Michael was just as much of a jerk as ever.  I was more than happy when he left for college.  Mr. Meyers seemed to be out of the picture.  He was never mentioned, if there even was a Mr. Meyers.  Mrs. Meyers was nice enough to me.  She didn't make me do anything or refuse to let me do anything.  Actually, sometimes I wondered if Mrs. Meyers remembered I lived with her, but she treated Zachary the same way, so she must have known.

            Zachary was different than the rest of the family.  He was like a real brother.  He helped me and protected me.  The 

way he watched over me gave me the impression that he cared even more for me than himself.

            Three tears roll down my cheeks.  I wish I could go back.  Back to the happy days when I was a child on Earth, but that is impossible.  It doesn't matter how hard I pray.

            It was my twelfth birthday.  Zachary surprised me with a gift.  "Here," he said handing me a small box covered in purple wrapping paper.

            "Thank-you," I told him as I tried to open the gift.  When I finally got it open, (Zachary had wrapped it himself and used just a little too much tape.) I pulled out a small white box.

            "Go on," he encouraged me.

            I opened up the box.  Inside was a gold necklace; a locket.  It was in the shape of a locket with a star engraved in the middle.

            "…So what do you think?" he asked me.

            "It's beautiful!"  I told him.  "It must have been expensive though, where in the world did you get the money?"

            He smiled.  "I cut lawns and saved up my allowance for a long time."

            "Why?"

            "You're more than a girl who lives in the same house as me.  You're special.  You've never blamed me for anything.  I'd say you are the only person on Earth I care this much and the only one who cares about me at all," he answered.

            I blushed.  "That's not true!"

            He stared at the ground, "Yes it is," he said.  "Our 'mother' gets money from the government when she takes in kids no one else wants or will take.  She adopts us permanently, but they still pay her for it."

            I looked up; shocked.  "What?"

            "It's true," answered Zachary, as he fastened the locket around my neck.

            "Thank-you."

            "It looks great on you Emily."

            That night, Zachary walked into my room.

            "Hey," I said.

            He looked guilty.  "Sorry if I ruined your birthday by telling you the truth today.  I promised myself I'd wait until you were twelve and somehow I couldn't keep it a secret any longer."

            "It's ok," I replied, wondering why he found this to be such a big deal.  "Why did you feel you had to wait?"

            He smiled and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then started backing away from me.  He looked terrified.  "Emily!" he cried.  "What's wrong with you?  I can see through your hand!"

            I looked at him.  He seemed to be shimmering and fading out too.  "You… You look like a ghost!" I screamed as he started to become invisible. 

            "What's going on?!"

            "I think we're disappearing!"

            Mrs. Meyers opened the door.  "You two are too loud!  What's going on in here?"  I watched her blink a few times, shut the door, as she muttered something under her breath.  Things became blurrier and blurrier and finally faded to black.

            _That was the last Zagoto or I saw of our old world.  I look deep into his eyes.  Lost in all the pain guilt and confusion, I can still see a tiny shade of the boy he had once been.  I touch a locket.  Weathered by time, it has almost fallen apart.  The golden edges are rounded out and the star that had once been in the middle has disappeared. _

            Just as the locket has lost its star, I have lost mine.  I can no longer pray for this world anymore.  It's useless.  Instead, I reach out to hold Zagoto, but pull myself back and say a few prayers, hoping, somehow I can keep this world alive, if only for a few hours longer.

            We ended up here in Cephiro.  A short man with light purple hair greeted us and told us that I was to be the pillar of Cephiro and Zachary was to be the high priest, protecting me from harm as I prayed for Cephiro.  He gave us new names; Emeraude and Zagoto and laid his hands on us.  In an instant, we changed from Emily and Zachary; two children in pajamas to Princess Emeraude and High Priest Zagato.  He became older, grew his hair much longer and acquired a new outfit.  I also became slightly older looking, my hair grew much longer, and my clothing became the white dress I have on now.  The only part of my old outfit that remained was my locket.

            Clef looked at us, satisfied.  He held up his staff and recited a few more quick words.

            I felt myself wrapped in a white light and saw Zagoto in a black one.  Suddenly I knew how to use my powers, knew most of the legends and history of Cephiro.  I knew my duties as pillar, and Zagoto's job too.

            However complete my memory seemed, I would find out later that there were just a couple of things Clef did not help Zagoto and myself remember…

            _I pull off the locket.  A sign of our feelings for one another.  Look where that has gotten us.  Here.  I drop it into the blackness that is engulfing the two of us._

_            Zagoto's deep strong eyes water as he sees me drop his gift.  The one I have cherished for so long.  The one he worked so hard for.  A sign of our innocence long ago.  He reaches over and wipes my tears.  "It's not your fault," he says.  "It's mine."_

            For many centuries, Cephiro was a happy place.  I did my job to the very best.  Everyone and everything was happy and peaceful.  I looked forward to my short visits with Zagoto, but I was still able to do my job well.

            Happy times can last centuries, but as a wise person once said, "nothing good can last forever."  I slowly found myself enjoying Zagoto's visits more than ever.  Apparently, so was he.  He visited more and more often.  Once he even brought me flowers; a bouquet of white lilies.  Soon he was on my mind most of the time.  Cephiro stumbled slightly because I, the pillar was having a harder time praying for Cephiro.

            This went on for about 30 years.  With every passing day our love for each other grew.  We knew it was wrong, but yet the two of us couldn't stop.

            We never tried anything romantic or got past gifts and talking.  It was as if we thought that we could conceal our love by staying in a friendship.  This proved untrue, and he occupied more and more of my time.

            Cephiro was suffering.  If nothing was done, it would crumble and eventually fall apart.  I concealed myself in an underwater dungeon.  I thought that I could stop thinking of Zagoto and be able to pray for Cephiro if I could stop seeing him.

            Even locking myself up wasn't working.  I still felt myself falling more and more in love with Zagoto.  I knew there was no way for me to save Cephiro.  It would only continue to suffer and crumble under my rule.  The time had come, so I gathered my last strength and used it to summon three girls from another world.  I prayed with all my heart that they could become Magic Knights and save Cephiro.

            The three girls who were summoned were not Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu like the last time.  Although time passes much quicker in Cephiro, fifty years had still gone by there since I left, so three new girls came.  I can't even remember their names.

            Zagoto walked into the room right after I summoned them.  He saw me weakened and realized what I had done.  He aimed one mighty blast and killed the Magic Knights instantly; before they even realized they had left their world.

            _Zagoto puts an arm around me and holds me close.  We're totally surrounded in darkness now.  It won't be long.  We will go down with this land._

            Cephiro's one chance for survival was gone.  There was nothing left for me to do but watch as the world fell apart.  I left the dungeon, and returned to the rest of the castle with Zagoto.

            I don't remember much about that time.  All that I remember is that Zagoto never left my side.  Cephiro almost completely crumbled, but Zagoto never left my side.  We fell more and more in love during that time, I almost forgot about Cephiro.

            By this part, Cephiro had almost completely crumbled.  Master Mage Clef returned to us and shouted another spell.  Everything went blank for a second and our memories were completely restored.

            I remembered the past and panicked.  So did Zagoto.  That last "Send me to be with Zagoto!  Let me think only of him!" echoed through my mind.

            Zagoto looked stunned as he realized what killing the Magic Knights would lead to.  It was impossible for me to summon any more.  Cephiro would be completely destroyed unless I did something, but what could I do.  There was nothing left to try.

            I held Zagoto close, and began to cry as Cephiro fell to ruins.  I walked around in the fog for a couple of hours, but eventually returned to this room with him.

            We stared into each other's eyes.  I remembered our past, the whole thing.

            ….And that brings us to the present.  The darkness is reaching out to us.  Zagoto pulls me closer.  Our first kiss.  Our last kiss.  The darkness totally swallows us.

            I feel the pain.  It's like I'm being ripped to shreds.  I realize the truth.  Zagoto and I were totally linked to our world, Cephiro.  As Cephiro dies, we are also dying.  Cephiro will never be reborn and neither will we.  I can feel it.  This death is forever.


End file.
